


Episode 3: Heirlooms

by polytropic



Series: Legends of Tomorrow Season 2 Rewrite [3]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Rewrite, Gen, Holocaust mentions (including mentions of Nazi figures and iconography), Justice Society of America - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Normandy invasion, Period-Typical Sexism, There I Fixed It For You, World War II, historical figure cameos, period-typical tacit acceptance of but reluctance to openly acknowledge queer and poc servicemembers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 18:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12018348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polytropic/pseuds/polytropic
Summary: The team travels to 1944 France, on the eve of the Normandy beach landing, to retrieve Sara. There they encounter another superhero team, the Justice Society of America, with a very different view on what heroism--and teamwork--look like.(Episode 3 of a full 22-episode rewrite of season 2 - the same broad story arc, but rewritten episodes)





	1. Chapter 1

Episode 3 - Heirlooms

 

_PREVIOUSLY ON LEGENDS OF TOMORROW: To save the crew of the Waverider from certain death, Rip Hunter scattered them across time, leaving only Mick behind to pick up the pieces. Reunited thanks to the help of historian Nate Heywood, Mick, Ray, Jax, and Professor Stein are on a mission to retrieve the rest of their crew. [scenes: Rip scattering the Legends, Ray's injury and retrieval, Jax and Stein finding the Holy Lance]_

 

**SCENE: overhead view of a French village, early morning. Text on the screen informs us it is AUVERGNE PROVINCE, FRANCE, JUNE 2 1944.**

Camera zooms in over rooftops to a bustling street and the view of a woman from behind, walking swiftly. She is wearing a long coat and hat. She turns down an alleyway, and we can see that it is SARA LANCE, in period-appropriate clothes. 

Sara knocks at a door; it cracks open enough for her to slip inside. She walks down darkly-lit steps into a cellar, which contains a large wooden table, centrally lit. In the center of the table is a crest with the words JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA. Figures stand all around the table; at the head stands REX TYLER, AKA HOURMAN. He looks up when Sara enters. 

"You're late," says Rex. 

**CUT TO: RAY PALMER, in his room on the Waverider. Text on the screen informs us that it is THE TIMESTREAM.**

Ray is halfway through getting dressed, but has paused with his shirt in his hands. He looks down at his side, where he was injured previously and where there is now no sign of injury. He rests a hand over it, fingers spanning where the bitemark used to be. He then reaches for his tablet; the camera zooms in and we can see that he has pulled up pictures of dinosaurs, including  _ Bambiraptor feinbergi. _

Ray looks up at a knock on his door. NATE enters. 

"Hi. Mick, uh, Mick sent me to get you, he said you're needed on the bridge. Which is...the most Star Trek I've ever sounded," says Nate.

"You do eventually get used to the fact that you're on a spaceship. It sounds crazy, but you do," Ray says. He extends his hand; Nate shakes it. "Nate, right? I haven't thanked you yet, for finding me. You saved my life."

"Well, I'd love to take credit, but actually Gideon saved your life. She detected a time anomaly from your location, that's how we knew where to look," says Nate. Ray frowns at the words 'time anomaly', and glances at his bedside table, where the piece of wood he used as a splint sits. Visible to the viewer, but not to Ray or Nate, the wood glows for a moment before subsiding.

**CUT TO: the bridge of the Waverider**

MICK RORY, JAX (JEFFERSON JACKSON), PROFESSOR STEIN, Nate and Ray stand around the table, looking at a projection of the same image of Sara Lance that we saw in the opening scene.

“I had hoped that Rip would be with Sara, when we found her…” Stein sighs. 

“Rip?” asks Nate.

“Our fearless leader,” explains Ray. 

“Also the only one who knows what he’s doing, most of the time,” adds Jax. “We’ll find him, Grey. For now, though...how did we find Sara?”

"That woman, Sara Lance aka The Canary, appeared in the history books connected with the Justice Society of America during World War II. She supported the JSA's role in the D-Day invasion of Normandy...except she didn't, or, she shouldn't have. Sara Lance  _ wasn't  _ part of the JSA. But I happened to re-check some sources last night, and suddenly, there she was," says Nate. “Not to make this all about me or anything, but if we don’t fix this, I’m going to have to re-write my  _ entire  _ thesis, so…”

"Is this the same JSA that tried to warn us about the nuke and started this whole mess?" Mick asks. He appears bored, and has a beer in his hand. “What the hell’s so special about these guys? Why do they keep popping up?”

"The Justice Society of America was an elite force of superpowered and exceptional individuals hand-picked by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself and dedicated to the defense of the United States and the Allied forces against agents of fascism!" Nate types into Gideon's keyboard excitedly. Pictures of the Justice Society of America members pop up: we see Rex Tyler, as well as a costumed STARGIRL hovering in mid-air and DR MID-NITE aiming a rifle. "They were the unsung heros of many of the greatest conflicts of the twentieth century! Not only were they instrumental in the Allied victory in Normandy, but they also prevented an assassination attempt on President Roosevelt, they took part in many of the early Goodwill Ambassador tours on behalf of the United Nations--"

"Wow, you are really into these guys, huh," says Ray. Mick has stopped listening entirely and is tilting his beer bottle back. Jax and Stein both look impatient.

"I mean, they  _ are  _ the subject of my thesis," says Nate.

"And it's a fascinating piece of work. But can we please get back to the matter at hand? We must retrieve Ms. Lance before her effect on history can spread!" says Stein. "If she takes on a significant role in this, well, dare I say  _ pivotal _ moment, who knows what consequences it might have for the course of the war, and for all of history itself!"

“Yeah, I wonder what changing the course of a war would be like, we’ve  _ never  _ done that before,” Jax says, sourly. Stein looks embarrassed. 

“Yes, well, point well taken, Jefferson, my actions in Constantinople were...inopportune. Which is why it’s doubly important to prevent Sara from making the same mistake!”

**CUT TO: the JSA cellar headquarters. Sara and Rex are confronting each other across the JSA table.**

"Come on coach, put me in. I wanna play," Sara says. She braces a hand on her hip and smiles challengingly at Rex Tyler. 

"Canary--"

"Aw,  _ Hourman _ , it's been three months, are we not past the codename point yet?"

"Miss Lance. You've been a valuable asset. But you're not a part of this team; you don't get input on our mission planning or what our priorities are." Rex looks like Sara may be giving him a headache. Sara looks like she is okay with that. 

"I understand that. I'm just saying that, as your  _ primary  _ asset with the Maquis, the fact that the invasion is scheduled for three days from now and my contact is missing? Is a problem. One that we can address." 

"How can you possibly know that Operation Neptune will go ahead in three days?" says a woman (COURTNEY WHITMORE, AKA STARGIRL). She steps up to the table beside Rex. She looks like she is suspicious of Sara.

Sara looks caught for a moment, then recovers. "Because I'm good at what I do, Stargirl," she says. 

"No one is disputing that you're talented, Canary," another woman (AMAYA JIWE, AKA VIXEN) says. She steps up to the table. 

A man (HENRY HEYWOOD, AKA COMMANDER STEEL) steps up to the table as well. "But this team has orders, and there are forces in play that you're not aware of. Of course the success of Operation Neptune is important, but that is not this team's primary objective. We are here for Operation Gungnir."

"That's right, Steel," Rex agrees. "We have to maintain focus. So: what progress have you made on locating the objective?"

Sara looks like she wants to argue for a moment, but then decides against it. She raises her chin, reminiscent of her posture when reporting to R'as al Ghul during her time as a League of Shadows member (Season 1, Episode 9, "Left Behind"). 

"No one has seen or heard of it. Sir."

"Dammit." Rex slams his fist on the table. "If we don't get it back, this whole war is doomed."

 

_INTRO SEQUENCE OF LEGENDS OF TOMORROW - narrated by Nate Heywood  
_

_"Time travel is real! Ever since the Time Masters were destroyed, all of history is open to attack. Our team protects history, traveling through time to stop anyone trying to damage the timeline. But we're a team of misfits and outcasts...so don't call us heros. We're Legends."_

 

**SCENE: a street in a French city, midday. Text informs us it is LE HAVRE, NORTHERN FRANCE, JUNE 3 1944. The city shows clear signs of destruction in the form of bombed-out buildings and sites of rubble; people move through the streets warily, heads down.**

Jax, Mick, Nate, Stein and Ray walk down the street. Ray is consulting a map as he walks. Nate is looking around interestedly. They are all in period- and location-appropriate clothing. 

"We're cutting it a little close to D-Day here, you know. Are you sure we couldn't find Sara anywhere earlier in the timeline?" Jax asks. 

"This clandestine meeting with a British intelligence officer is the first place a definitive mention of The Canary appears in the historical record. Wow, look at that!" Nate stops walking to stare at a church. "That's a Baroque facade! Do you think it dates all the way back to the reign of Louis XIII?"

"Oh man, not Louis XIII again. I don't wanna hear any more about that guy," grumbles Jax. Nate ignores him. 

"You know there would be a lot more architecture like this if we'd just come a couple years earlier...the urban center of this city was almost fully destroyed by Allied bombings…"

"So let's get moving before someone drops a  _ bomb  _ on us," Mick says. He plants a hand on Nate's back and shoves him forward again. 

"Can I just take some pictures of the waterfront really quickly? Imagine how much we could learn from comparing them to other sources!" Nate says. He is being propelled forwards by Mick, but keeps looking behind him as if he is yearning to stay. 

"Not the safest place for the kid, ya know. Or the Professor, come to that," Mick says. A SMALL CHILD is staring at Jax; Jax waves at them with a smile. Mick makes an exaggerated scowling face at them. The child laughs at them both, until THEIR PARENT pulls them away, looking wary. 

"We are indeed attracting far too much attention for a clandestine mission," Stein agrees. "How much farther to the location, Raymond?"

"It's right down there." Ray points down a side street. "We should find somewhere to stake the place out! After all, it's a meeting of spies. I bet there are eyes everywhere."

**PAN TO: a rooftop across from the aforementioned street.**

Sara and Amaya are on the roof, hidden from sight. Amaya has binoculars trained on the building; Sara is facing the other way, watching Rex and Henry approach from several streets away. 

"Has the contact arrived?" Sara asks. 

"No sign of him yet," Amaya replies. 

"Acknowledged, Vixen. Hourman and Steel approaching now."

"Acknowledged, Canary." 

Sara looks uncomfortable. "I'm not so sure I like that name any more."

"Why not?" asks Amaya. Sara sighs, deeply. She pivots to keep watching the two JSA members approach the meetup location. She and Amaya are now facing the same way. Sara looks as if she is struggling with the decision of whether to speak or not. Eventually, she does. 

"I lost someone. The name...it reminds me."

"In the war?" Amaya asks. 

"In a war, yes," Sara responds. She is looking at the building now, but unseeing, clearly somewhere else. "It's supposed to get better with time, people say. I don't think I have the same perspective on time as those people."

Amaya looks at Sara, sympathetic, for a long moment. Then she hands her the binoculars.   


"I hope it does ease with time. But for now, don't let it cloud your focus," she instructs. Sara frowns, but takes the binoculars and trains them on the building. 

"You don't have to worry: my focus is exactly where it needs to be," she says. We get the sense that she is talking much more about Laurel than she is about the meetup they are surveilling. "For now, though, how about we drop the 'Canary' and go with just 'Sara'?"

"Well, if you are going to be Sara, I suppose I should be 'Amaya'," Amaya says. Sara smiles a little, though she still looks sad. 

"Sounds good." There is a pause as she scans with her binoculars. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Amaya asks. Sara hands her the binoculars and begins to scramble down from the roof. "Sara! What is it?"

"We have a problem. My team is here," Sara says as she pulls out a knife from her thigh sheath. 

**CUT TO: the meetup location, a cafe that once had a plate glass window but now has only shards, open to the air. Inside they are still serving food and coffee despite the destroyed face of the building.**

Camera pans to a table in the back, where three men sit: Rex, Henry, and a BRITISH SPY. The spy is speaking in an undertone, and we can slowly make out the words:

"I was not told the name, so I don't know if it is what you are looking for. But it is what you describe: a piece of wood, perhaps half the length of my hand. This object was stolen on British soil, the Prime Minister has instructed me to be very clear that it is to be returned there." 

"The object had been remanded to American custody when it was stolen. That is its current status, and the Prime Minister is welcome to contact the President to sort out any further details," Rex counters. The British spy does not look thrilled about this development. 

"How was it stolen?" he asks. 

"That's not relevant--" Rex begins. Henry stops him with a hand out. 

"Witnesses describe a bolt of lightning," he says, shortly. "Too fast to see."

"What? That's it?" The spy looks skeptical. 

"That's it. So who has it now?" Henry demands. 

"You won't be able to get it back," says the spy. He looks nervous, now.   


"We'll be the judge of that," says Rex. 

"It is in the possession of Herr Carl Oberg, head of the SS in France," says the spy. 

"This isn't good," says Rex. "Where is he now?"

The spy looks as if he is about to answer, but then he stiffens, looking over Henry's shoulder. He gets to his feet, and draws a gun, pointing it directly at Nate, who has appeared at the table. Behind Nate, we see the rest of the Legends struggling through the crowd to try to get to him. 

"What is this?" the spy demands. Nate stops short, hands up, looking at the gun, very afraid. He has never been threatened with a deadly weapon before. He is realizing how easily he could die right here.

"Is he with you?" the spy asks. 

"No he isn't," Rex says. He and Henry also both get to their feet, looking ready for a fight. Mick and Ray arrive behind Nate. Mick, seeing that Nate is being menaced by a weapon, draws his own heat gun. This attracts the attention of several other patrons (Mick's gun being rather noticeable) and the cafe begins to dissolve into chaos. 

The spy fires at Nate; Mick knocks Nate to the ground, out of the way of the shot, and then punches the spy. 

"You!" Rex exclaims, getting a good look at Mick. 

"Mick, stop!" Sara yells, entering the cafe with Amaya hot on her heels. Behind both of them, a trio of German officers appear, yelling for order and papers. People flee before them; the spy scrambles to his feet, away from Mick's next swing, and flees as well. 

"Canary, Vixen, on him!" Henry yells. Sara does not listen, caught up in defending Ray from one of the German police. Amaya tries to follow, but is waylaid by another officer, demanding her papers. 

"Obsidian! The lights!" yells Henry. A hooded figure with a cape, TODD RICE AKA OBSIDIAN, appears. He raises a hand; the lights in the cafe, as well as the midday sun outside, dim. The civilians left scream and scatter. 

Camera pans to another man with dark goggles on, CHARLES MCNIDER AKA DR. MID-NITE. We see through his eyes briefly, figures clearly outlined as if in infrared vision: Mick is still swinging wildly, trying to punch enemies he cannot see; Amaya backhands a police officer and he flies across the room; six more outlines of German officers pile through the door.   


"Incoming!" Dr. Mid-Nite yells. 

"Retreat!" Rex yells. Amaya and Henry obey. Stein and Jax are about to merge into Firestorm; Sara yells "No! Run!" at them and they obey. Mick grabs Nate off the floor and runs for the exit, mostly carrying him. Sara grabs Ray, who looks frozen and confused, and does the same. They flee. 

Mick is almost out the doors of the cafe when he sees someone sitting quietly amid the chaos, not running or fighting but simply observing, legs casually crossed. It is LEONARD SNART. Mick's run moves into slow-motion for a moment so that we can see his baffled face and Leonard's expression, which is contemplative and perhaps a little amused by all the fuss. Time speeds up again, and Mick has to keep running, still carrying Nate. When he risks a look back over his shoulder, the table he thought he saw Leonard at is empty. 

Once they get outside the dark lifts and it is once again broad daylight. 

"Stargirl! Cover our retreat!" Rex yells. From the sky comes a bolt of bright light; it strikes the ground in front of the cafe, and the pursuing officers are blown backwards. The camera slowly pans back from the scene of chaos until all that can be seen is a ruined cafe and a cloud of dust.

 

**SCENE: A basement, evening. Both the Legends and the JSA are gathered there, hiding from the police.**

"Who are you people?" Amaya demands of the Legends. 

"They're my team--" Sara begins to explain, but Rex cuts her off. 

"You." He points at Mick. "Are you the leader? You should be  _ ashamed  _ of the discipline of your unit."

Mick laughs, derisively. "I'm not much for discipline."

"As we are all regrettably aware," Stein says. Mick frowns. Rex turns to Stein. 

"Are you the leader, then?" Rex asks.

Stein looks taken aback, but flattered. "Well, I suppose...in the absence of Mr. Hunter…"

"Uh, do any of the rest of us get a vote in this?" Jax demands. Stein looks annoyed. 

"Jefferson, I'm merely saying it is  _ logical _ \--"

"Okay, male posturing later," Sara interrupts. "Who cares who the leader is, what's important is that this is my team: the Legends. With them here, we have double the resources! We can help the Resistance and complete Operation Gungnir at the same time!"

Rex looks incredulous. The rest of the JSA look very dubious. 

"Canary, this team has neither the clearance nor the discipline to work with us on this mission," says Henry. 

"After hearing how they interrupted a delicate negotiation and cost us vital intelligence, I must agree," says Amaya. 

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I just...I wasn't thinking," says Nate. 

"I don't even know who you are," says Sara. She is more confused than angry, but Nate wilts anyways. "Look, I apologize for the botched mission, that's on me. I didn't manage to head them off in time. But they can be helpful! We can't afford to turn them away, not when it could cost us the success of Operation Overlord!"

"You are not a member of the JSA!" Rex says, forcefully. Sara looks startled, and a little hurt. "For the last time: our priority is the objective, any other work is strictly secondary, and we will not be working with a group of amateurs who can't handle themselves in a fight," Ray and Nate both look ashamed, "babble about time travel," Mick snorts, "and have no professionalism, training, or leadership! I want you, and your entire team, gone. Go back to wherever you came from, before your meddling ruins this operation beyond repair."

"Sir, perhaps--" Amaya tries. Rex shakes his head, sharply. 

"They cost us the location of the objective today. We now have no idea where it is, only that it's held by the head of the German Police himself. We don't have  _ time  _ for this. Get out."

There is a pause, while Sara looks around at the JSA to see if anyone will take her side. No one does. She frowns, tightly, and then nods. 

"Fine. I assume the Waverider is somewhere around here? Let's go," she says. The camera shows the door closing on a scene of the JSA in a semicricle with Rex at the center, all eyes turned towards him and none towards the door. 

**CUT TO: the Waverider bridge, night.**

"Wow, so that was the actual JSA!" says Ray. He looks torn between being humiliated and just fanboying. "They sure were...uh, professional."

"Yeah, it's kind of their thing." Sara rolls her eyes. "It's great...except when you're trying to tell them something important."

"We're not really giving up, are we?" Jax asks. 

"We cannot afford to! See: according to Gideon, the Allied invasion of Normandy  _ fails  _ in 1944, and the war persists for three more years," Stein says, pulling up the information on the console. The images show rows of soldiers being mowed down on beaches, and planes sailing through the sky dropping bombs. 

"That's not right!" Nate exclaims.

"No shit, even I know that," says Mick. 

"So what do we do? It seems like that Rex guy isn't gonna let us help. He is way less friendly than the last time we saw him!" Jax exclaims. 

"Rex is under a lot of pressure right now," Sara says. She is giving Rex the benefit of the doubt, but also looks annoyed by his stubbornness. "I've worked with him for three months, ever since I arrived in this time, and I thought he trusted me by now. I guess not."

"I concur that we must develop a plan to get history back on track," Stein says loudly. "But first, I think there's something we have left unaddressed for too long. Now that Ms. Lance is back among us,"

"Yeah, welcome back!" Jax says. Sara punches him on the shoulder, looking pleased. 

"Yes, yes, welcome. But I must point out: we have found everyone except our leader. And that leaves us with a vacancy in the position," says Stein. He looks around as if searching for agreement. Ray nods; Nate is looking at his hands, still subdued; Mick does not care. When we look at Nate, we notice that he has a large bruise on his arm from being shoved to the ground earlier; it's a surprisingly large and dark bruise.

"You really wanna worry about who's in charge now?" Jax asks. 

"No, Stein's right. We need a leader if we're going to function as a good team," says Sara. "And since you clearly want to be leader, Professor, why don't you go for it?"

"I'm not voting for Grandpa 'Fascinating' as team leader," says Mick. 

"No one was proposing you--or anyone--got a vote, Mr. Rory," says Stein. 

"Uh, I am!" Jax raises his hand in the air. "If we're doing this leader thing, we should vote on it!"

"I agree with Jax," says Nate. 

"Seriously, who  _ are  _ you?" says Sara to Nate.

"He's the history guy. Grabbed him in 2016. He found you," Mick explains. 

"We read his thesis, Sara, remember?" asks Jax.

" _You_ read his thesis," Sara corrects cheerfully. "If I wanted to read a thesis, I'd have gone to college. Nice to meet you, 'history guy'."  


"It's Nate, actually, Nate Heywood. And if we're nominating leaders, I nominate Mick. He saved my life today in the fight," says Nate. Everyone looks shocked, not so much that Mick saved Nate, but that Nate would decide to nominate him. 

"I don't wanna be leader, Textbook." Mick looks scornful, but his use of the new nickname is affectionate. 

"Yeah, I gotta say, Mick is not really the leadership type. Sorry Mick. I nominate Sara," says Jax.     


"Jefferson! We share a body half the time!" Stein exclaims, looking betrayed. 

"Yeah, and I get enough of you telling me what to do then! I don't need it the rest of the time too," says Jax. 

"Okay, okay, let's just vote. Hands up for Stein?" says Sara. Nate and Stein raise their hands. 

"Sorry. I just don't really know you," Nate explains to Sara. She shrugs, not offended. 

"Hands up for me?" Ray, Mick, and Jax raise their hands. Sara does not vote. 

Stein looks very put out that he was outvoted. Ray looks a little guilty for voting against him. 

"Think about it this way, Professor. I totally trust any plan you come up with. But in the cafe back there, Sara took one look at the situation and got us all out of there safely. She didn't freeze or worry about what might go wrong, who might get hurt." Ray may no longer be talking entirely to Stein. "She's the one we need in charge in a crisis."

Stein grumbles for a moment under his breath, then relents. 

"Your logic is sound, Raymond. Well, Ms. Lance? What shall we do?"

"I do have an idea." Sara looks a little uncomfortable with how everyone is now looking to her, but she adjusts. "Rex is so focused on his objective that he doesn't see it, but I'm pretty sure I know what’s gone wrong with history."

"What makes you say that?" Stein asks.

"Look, I was not the best student. But I'm pretty sure the French Resistance wasn't defeated before the invasion of Normandy, were they?" Sara asks.

Nate looks very distressed by this news. "No, no they weren't! They're supposed to be being trained for combat by British and American teams under Operation Jedburgh, which prepares them to participate in Operation Overlord!"

"Okay I aced European History and even I don't know what any of that means," says Jax. Mick looks relieved that he did not have to be the one to admit ignorance, for once. 

"Really, the role of the French Resistance in the Normandy invasion is criminally downplayed in U.S. history courses; while the beach assault was underway, resistance forces destroyed so many railways and roads that the German troops couldn't resupply, and took out enough phone lines that the Germans were forced to communicate solely over radio, which allowed Bletchley Circle codebreakers to eavesdrop! Military leaders estimated that Resistance forces kept three whole divisions of German troops distracted and off of the front lines, which may have made the difference in the success of the invasion! And along with the immediate benefits, experts also believe that France's national psyche might not have been able to recover from the brutal occupation nearly as well without the evidence of widespread resistance to Nazi rule! Furthermore--" Nate infodumps, excitedly.

"No, no furthermores, thanks," Sara interrupts. "So basically, you're saying that if the Resistance is on its last legs, and the local leader is missing, something is wrong?"

"Yes. Yes, that's not how it's supposed to go, at all," says Nate. 

"How could this aberration have happened? Has your presence here so altered history, even in this short time?" Stein asks. 

"If anything, I feel like I'm fighting  _ against  _ the aberration. I've been doing my best to warn them about raids; without me, they'd be in worse shape," says Sara. "You know...the JSA keeps talking about this 'objective' of theirs. It's why they're here. What if that's the aberration?"

"What is the objective?" asks Stein.

"I don't have a lot of details. They get very cagey whenever I ask about what it is or why it's so important. But I know it was stolen from Scotland about three months ago by the Germans, and it's somewhere here in France. And I know what it looks like, which is the confusing part: it's just a little piece of wood."

Stein, Jax, and Nate look baffled. Mick looks like he isn't listening. Ray looks like he is having a revelation. 

"A piece of wood? Does it glow?" he asks, excited.

"Not that I know of, why?" asks Sara. 

"Because...okay, bear with me here. When I was in the Cretaceous, I used a weird glowy stick to splint my leg. Later, when I was attacked by raptors, I thought I was a goner, but the stick on my leg glowed and suddenly Bambi not only appeared out of nowhere to save me, she also fought off three larger raptors all on her own, which didn't seem possible! I think the stick summoned her for me!" says Ray. 

"Who is Bambi?" asks Stein. 

"Oh, she's--she was my pet. You know,  _ Bambiraptor feinbergi,  _ Bambi?" Ray says. He looks fond.

"You had a pet raptor named Bambi?" Mick asks. 

"Look I know it might sound stupid but she was a  _ great  _ pet and--" Ray begins, heatedly. Mick interrupts him.

"Are you kidding? This is the best thing you've ever done, Haircut."

"Yeah, I think it's kinda cute," Jax chimes in. "But wait, are you saying that the stick knew you needed help somehow?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Jefferson." Stein looks annoyed. So does Jax, at being dismissed. "First with the Holy Lance, now this? Your thinking is so  _ unscientific  _ sometimes!"

"Holy Lance? Excuse me, I'm the only holy Lance on this team!" Sara jokes. "What'd I miss?"

"I think there are artifacts causing aberrations. Weird aberrations, not like ones we've dealt with before. There was one in the Crusades, it almost ruined everything before we took it out of play. Sounds like there was one in the Cretaceous with Ray, too, and this 'objective' might be another one," says Jax. 

"But in the Crusades, whichever side had the Lance ended up at a huge advantage. If that's true of this artifact too...and if the Germans have it right now…" Nate says. The whole team sobers at this revelation. 

"Then we've got to get it back. Or World War II is going to end very, very differently," says Sara. "The good news is, if this artifact really is what's changing history? Then I might know where it is."

 

**SCENE: A French town, night. Text on the screen informs us it is MONTLUÇON, AUVERGENE PROVINCE, FRANCE, JUNE 3 1944.**

Ray and Nate sneak through a stand of trees and approach a large stone building, with turrets and a sloped roof. 

"This doesn't look like a Gestapo outpost. It looks like a castle," says Ray. 

"It probably is. Since the Revolution, many of France's castles were re-purposed as military buildings," says Nate. He goes to step out of the trees.

"Wait!" Ray yelps and pulls him back. "You can't just walk up to it! We have to scout the area first."

"Oh, right, of course." Nate winces, looking ashamed. 

Ray studies him for a moment, then claps him on the shoulder, awkwardly but enthusiastically. There is an air of 'this is what bros do, right? This is how to be manly friends?' about the action. 

"Hey, don't worry. You'll get the hang of the whole 'hero' thing in no time."

"Will I?" Nate is skeptical. "I really messed up in that cafe, I know I did. And I don't have powers, or training, like the rest of you. But I just want to show...ugh, never mind."

"You don't need powers! Look at me." Ray points to himself and his suit cheerfully. "No powers here! Just science."

"And you never feel like you can't keep up?" Nate asks. The smile fades from Ray's face. 

"Okay, I might be a little rusty, right now. Several months in the Cretaceous will do that to a man. But listen, heroism isn't about your powers or your advantages. It's about doing the right thing, helping people." Ray looks like he’s trying to convince himself.

"Yeah. Helping people. I can get behind that," Nate agrees, finally sounding back to his enthusiastic self. 

"Exactly. So let's go help get this aberration back," Ray cheers. He activates his suit, and zips out towards the building. The camera pans after him, and we see him zoom across the lawn, through a small window, down a darkened hallway, and under the crack of a door with light shining underneath. 

The room is an administrative office, with a large desk covered in many papers. On the wall are framed sepia photographs of Nazi troops and generals. Ray zips around the room, and then alights in front of a wall safe. He shrinks even smaller and disappears inside of it; after a moment there is a click and then the safe swings open. Ray emerges and grows to full size, sorting through several papers in his hands that he has retrieved from the safe. He frowns, apparently not finding anything of use, then looks up in alarm at the sound of footsteps in the hall outside. He replaces the papers, shuts the safe, and shrinks back down just in time for the door to open. 

Two German Police officials walk in. One of them, the SENIOR OFFICER, seats himself behind the desk; the other, JUNIOR OFFICER, stands in front of it, looking nervous. 

"You're certain it's her," says the senior officer. 

"Yes sir."

"It had better be. The Higher SS and Police Leader will be here by morning, and if you have wasted his time…"

"She matches the description, sir. And one of the others called her 'Wake'."

"Good. Double the guard and don't listen to a word she says, she's escaped capture before."

"Yes sir." The junior officer leaves. When the senior officer bends his head to examine some of the papers on his desk, Ray sneaks out under the door and flies back to Nate. 

"I think the aberration will be here tomorrow!" he announces, excitedly. 

"Really?" Nate looks surprised at their luck. 

"They have some kind of important prisoner here, and they said the High something-something Leader would be here by the morning! Sara said that the leader of the German Police had the artifact, right?"

"She did." Nate is excited now too. "Wow, awesome! So we just have to wait until tomorrow, and then we can infiltrate and retrieve it!"

"Exactly!" Nate and Ray share a moment of satisfaction at having done something right. 

"Who is this important prisoner?" Nate asks, after a moment. Ray shrugs, unconcerned. 

"Some woman? 'Wake' something." 

Nate's mouth drops open. 

" _ Nancy Wake _ ???"

**CUT TO: JSA HQ, night**

Amaya stands alone at the table, pouring over a map of France. She bends down to make a note on it; when she straightens up, a hand falls on her shoulder. In a blur of motion, she slams the figure face-down on the table next to her, arm twisted behind his back. He makes a grunt of surprise. Now we can see that it is Rex. They both pause, him stunned, her surprised. After a moment, they both start laughing. 

"You know better than to sneak up on me!" she exclaims, letting him up. He shakes his arm out, ruefully. 

"Sometimes I just need a reminder, I guess." He gestures at the map. "How is it coming?"

Amaya points down at the map, and sketches a circle on it with her finger, encompassing a good portion of southern France. "Stargirl's divination was inconclusive. It may be in transit."

"Damn," Rex curses. He face darkens, frustrated. Amaya looks as if she is going to say something; pauses; swallows it down. After a moment of both of them looking down at the map, she does speak after all. 

"It's not your fault."

"It was in my custody. I lost it." Rex refuses to be moved from his brooding. 

"It was in our team's custody. We're all responsible," she insists. "Rex!" He does look up at last, at the sharpness in her tone and at the use of his name. "We need you clear-headed."

Rex looks angry for a moment, then sighs. A slight smile makes its way back onto his face. "If you want me clear-headed, don't look at me like that."

Amaya rolls her eyes. She looks like she's not sure if she is pleased or not. "Like a  _ teammate _ ?"

"You're more than my teammate." His tone is intimate; he rests his hand on hers, fingers overlapping. She allows the contact for a long moment, face thoughtful, then pulls away. 

"Not while on a mission, I'm not."

"I know, and I agree that it's better for the success of the mission if we don't focus on it right now. But after?" Rex asks. He sounds much more tentative, and much more vulnerable, than he does when in his role as team leader. 

"Let's worry about after,  _ after _ ," says Amaya. She picks up her pencil again, and goes back to looking at the map. Rex looks conflicted. 

"When this mission is over, I'm going to kiss you in front of the entire team," he announces. Amaya looks up, startled, only to see that he's already turned and left the room. 

"Don't you dare!" she calls after him, then frowns, not sure if he heard or not. After a moment, she goes back to the map. 

"Punch him in the throat if he tries it," says Sara. We aren't sure how we missed her before: she is wearing bright white, but somehow managed to hide in a shadow. She fades into the foreground now. Amaya's head jerks up, startled, and she stares at Sara for a long, frozen moment. Finally she presses her lips together, resigned. 

"How much did you hear?" she asks, heavily. 

"You think I didn't know before now? It's been months. Come on, you're not that subtle," Sara says. She grins, inviting Amaya to share the joke; Amaya isn't amused. 

"If you tell anyone, we'll be dishonorably discharged," she says. Sara raised her eyebrows. 

"That's strict," she says

"It's illegal for us to be together, in the United States," says Amaya. Sara whistles, surprised. 

"Wow, yeah, forgot about that. Sorry. I know how that goes, my, uh, partner and I weren't legal for a while there either. My lips are sealed," she says.

Amaya nods. "You're a homosexual," she asserts, unconcerned. Sara snorts with laughter. 

"Uh, bisexual. But sure. That cool?”

“Though the details are not mine to discuss, I can assure you you wouldn’t be the first in the JSA,” Amaya says. Sara blinks, then grins.

“Nate should put  _ that  _ in his thesis. Anyways, I didn't come here to eavesdrop."

"What did you come here for?" Amaya, now that she has secured Sara's silence, is a little less defensive. She sounds more curious than accusing when she says: "You were supposed to leave."

"I want another chance." Sara is serious, now. "I know my team messed up that mission. But we have a lead on the objective, a solid one. And we have our own mission here, now. We can't leave, and if you won't work with us, we're just going to keep getting in each other's way. Come on, you're a strategist, you must see that things will work better if we pool our resources!"

Amaya frowns. "Even if I saw the merits in your argument, Rex is decided. You should leave."

"And so you're just going to go along with him?" Sara demands.

"He's this team's  _ leader _ . He gives an order, we follow it," Amaya insists. 

"Your 'leader' is blinded by guilt, and the rest of you won't so much as question him," says Sara. 

"Question him? This is a war! You say I'm a strategist? Well, you're a tactician,  _ you  _ must know that in the field, not following orders gets people killed!" Amaya exclaims. 

"I know that in the field, sometimes your  _ own  _ judgement is what saves lives, no matter what order you've been given. Come on. You know I'm right--" Sara persists. Amaya cuts her off. 

"It does not matter what I think!" she hisses. 

"You know you're stronger than him, right?" Sara says, changing tack. Amaya looks confused. "Rex," Sara clarifies. "With the abilities from your amulet, your combat skills, your strategic thinking...you're out of his league. You haven't ever considered that, have you? He has. I can tell."

"If that's true, he knows it makes this team stronger. That's what matters," Amaya says, with dignity but also defensiveness.   


"I'm sure that's so. But I also know it makes him feel threatened. And sure, I bet he thinks it will be good for your relationship to be open about it, I'm not saying he's lying. But some part of him is also thinking that this way, he gets a claim on you. He gets some of that power back," says Sara.

Amaya looks disconcerted by this, like she doesn't know what to think. She would like to dismiss this assertion, but something about it rings too true for her to do so completely. She frowns. 

"Why are you saying this?"

"Because I, and my team, need you to trust your own judgement, instead of his. And I think you know I'm right, and you know this is the right call. So just  _ make  _ it," Sara says. 

"I don't…" Amaya holds out for a moment longer...then sighs. "I really don't have the authority, Sara. If it were up to me...but it isn't, and that's all there is to it."

Sara studies her, and appears to accept the truth of that. "Okay, fine. Can you at least call the JSA here and get them to hear me out? That's all I ask."

Amaya thinks about it for a long moment. Then she reaches down and presses the middle of the JSA logo on the table; it lights up. 

"You're sure you have a real lead on the objective?" she asks. Sara nods.

"I have two team members monitoring it right now."

**CUT TO: Montluçon, outside Gestapo outpost, night**

"Are you telling me  _ the  _ Nancy Wake is in there, in German custody?" Nate hisses, barely keeping his voice down. Ray is baffled by his vehemence. 

"Is she important?" 

"Important--! She's the  _ most important person in the French Resistance _ !" Nate yelps, and then winces when Ray shushes him. "We have to get her out!" he insists. Ray immediately shakes his head. 

"No, no way. No matter how much she is the good guys and they are the bad guys, which, believe me, I get: we can't interfere with history," he says. “Look what happened when I tried."

Nate looks skeptical. "What do you mean 'interfere with history'? Like it's set in stone? I'm a historian, Ray: history is just people trying to figure out the best story to fit the evidence as we perceive it. There's no such thing as a single 'history'. There's never 'what actually happened'; there's just what people happened to write down."

"Maybe that's true without time travel," Ray insists. "But we  _ can't  _ interfere, Nate. That's the whole point of the Legends: we correct aberrations, we don't make them."

"What happened to being heros? To helping people?" Nate asks. That stymies Ray, having his own words thrown back at him. Being a hero is important to him, but so is being a Legend. He is stuck. There is a pause, both of them trying to figure out how to convince the other of their position, and then something occurs to Nate. 

"Wait a minute...an aberration...that's exactly what this is!" Nate is being too loud again: Ray shushes him. He lowers his voice but goes on, increasingly excited. "Ray, Nancy Wake isn't supposed to be in a German prison! She was never caught, and definitely not in 1944; she's supposed to be training Resistance fighters and leading raids right now!"

"Wait, really?" Ray is shocked. "It's the artifact then, it has to be. Just like in the Crusades; it's helping one side win when they shouldn't be."

"We have to do something!" Nate says again, and this time Ray nods his agreement. "Should we call Sara?"

"No." Ray squares his jaw, determined. "There's no time: they said that the man who has the artifact would be coming in the morning, and it's almost light. We have to go now."

Nate looks dubious, but then his resolve firms. "You're right. Okay, let's go."

**CUT TO: Inside the Gestapo HQ, a prison cell.**

There are several people inside, one of whom is a dark-haired woman in her early thirties: NANCY WAKE. She is hunched down with the other prisoners, whispering intensely, when Ray and Nate appear outside the cell. 

"Who are you?" A RESISTANCE FIGHTER asks, startled at their sudden appearance and lack of Gestapo uniforms. 

"We're here to rescue you!" Ray aims a photon blast from his suit at the lock on the door; it explodes open. 

"But who…?" ANOTHER RESISTANCE MEMBER starts, staring at Ray's futuristic suit.

"Doesn't matter! Go, go." Nancy Wake jumps to her feet and starts shoving the prisoners out the door. She is the last one out, and pauses, looking Ray and Nate up and down. 

"Ms. Wake can I just say what a huge fan I am--" Nate starts. Ray elbows him in the side, incredulous, and he stops. 

"Whoever the hell you are, you're just in time. Convenient," Wake says, brusquely. She has a New Zealand accent. She sets off down the hallway. She may not trust them and their convenient timing, but she'll take their help nevertheless. 

Ray, Nate, and the Resistance make their way down the hallway, as quickly as possible while trying to maintain stealth. Their efforts are in vain; they round a corner and are faced with a squad of police, weapons ready. 

"Take them alive!" The senior officer yells. 

"We surrender!" Nancy Wake throws up her hands. This stymies the police; they all pause. She takes several steps towards them. "We'd rather be taken alive, just don't hurt us…" The minute she is close enough, she drives a knee into the closest officer's stomach, grabs another one's gun, and slams him in the face with it. 

Ray, Nate, and the rest of the Resistance jump into the fight, Ray firing off blasts from his suit left and right, the rest of them throwing punches. Nate gets hit hard in the face; he recovers and punches the officer, sending him stumbling back several steps, but another officer hits him hard in the kidneys with the butt of his gun. He crumples to the ground. Ray rushes to his defense, and with the advantage of his suit and the element of surprise, they are winning the fight. 

A round of gunshots goes off. Everyone freezes. Framed in the doorway is another squad of police, led by a late-40s white man with a uniform covered in medals: CARL OBERG, Higher SS and Police Leader of France, responsible for the torture and incarceration of the French Resistance and the deportation and genocide of over 40,000 French Jews. In his hand is a small cylindrical piece of wood, roughly the length of a person's hand: it is glowing. 

"The most wanted woman in the French State is not leaving this building," Oberg says.

"Free France is the true French state." Wake points her stolen gun at Oberg, but does not fire. The piece of wood glows more brightly; around her the Resistance members are putting up their hands in surrender, while the police, who were mostly on the ground, are slowly getting to their feet. One wrests the gun from Wake's hands and handcuffs her. Nate is on the ground, holding his stomach; another officer drags him to his feet and handcuffs him as well. His nose is bleeding, continuously. Now surrounded on all sides, and with Nate in custody, Ray slowly puts up his hands in surrender as well. 

Oberg steps up to Ray, looking over his suit with interest. Ray sighs; he has done this song and dance before, every time he gets captured. 

"What is this device?" Oberg demands. 

"It's a semi-autonomous AI-enabled wearable exoskeleton, encompassing mobility and combat enhancement capabilities and powered by luminosity V main-sequence star technology," Ray says, brightly. There is a beat of silence. No one understood a word of that. Ray smiles, happily. After a long awkward moment in which Oberg tries to figure out how to ask a follow-up question, he gives up. 

"Take them away," he orders. Nate lets out a cry of pain as he is dragged away, and Ray stops smiling as he is dragged after his teammate.

**CUT TO: JSA HQ, early morning**

"I know you don't trust us. And I know we're a very different team from yours. But we know where the objective is, and if you help us, we can retrieve it," Sara says, to the assembled JSA. 

"I told you: we are not going to work with a team with no command structure," Rex insists. He glares at Sara. "Don't make me eject you from this city by force, Canary. I will."

"We have a command structure. Newly-elected leader of the Legends, reporting for duty." Sara clearly thinks the emphasis on leadership is unnecessary, but she's humoring him. Rex scoffs. 

"You expect me to believe your team chose a woman to lead?"

"Oh man, and we were doing so  _ well  _ for 1944 until now," Sara sighs. "Okay, Rex, you want to play it that way? I can't believe your team is following the leadership of the guy who  _ lost  _ the objective in the first place."

"How the hell did you--" Rex starts, furious. Sara cuts him off. 

"Doesn't matter. Here's the bottom line: we're getting this objective back with or without you. If your team  _ doesn't  _ help, you're never going to see it again, and you can explain to the President how you turned down the chance to retrieve it because the plan had girl-cooties on it. Your choice."

"You can't get it back without us!" Amaya objects, alarmed at the prospect of losing the objective completely. "You need our help!"

"I'd rather have your help, but I definitely don't need…" Sara pauses and presses a hand to her ear. "Ray? Hang on, slow down, what…?" She processes what she is hearing, and her eyes close in utter frustration. She blows out a huge sigh, then focuses back on the JSA. "...okay. Fine. Two of my team are captured, one is injured, and I do, in fact, need your help. Rex. Please."

Everyone looks at Rex. He is struggling, internally. The reminder that he lost the objective in the first place shook him: it reminded him that his team is not infallible either. Finally, he speaks. 

"JSA, suit up."

**CUT TO: Gestapo outpost, morning.**

Nate, Ray, Wake, and the Resistance members are locked in a cell. Ray's armor has, of course, been taken away. 

"You're a hemophiliac?" Ray yells. He is bent down over Nate, who is pale and sweating, clearly in pain. There is blood all down the front of his shirt from the bloody nose; it has stopped, but it bled an unusual amount. He is holding a hand to his side, where he was hit. "How could you not tell us?"

"I want...to be...a hero," Nate gets out, teeth gritted. 

"Well now you're a hero with internal bleeding!" Ray is panicking. "Internal bleeding that won't  _ stop _ , and that is damaging your organs as we speak!" 

"Calm down." Wake crouches down beside the two of them. She studies Nate, then turns to Ray. "You can help him by helping me get us out of here. Are you with the JSA?" Ray starts, surprised she knows who they are. She interprets his surprise correctly. "Of course I have clearance, we were attached to the same base in Scotland before I was deployed back here. Can you call them?"

Ray nods. "They're on their way. But I don't know how long he has before the damage to his organs is irreversible."

"I'll be fine," Nate manages to gasp out. No one believes him. 

"We need to get that artefact Oberg was holding," Ray tells Wake. 

"The stick?" She is dubious, but accepts it. "He'll be here soon, to supervise interrogation. He'll likely have it with him." Wake eyes Ray. "You've been tortured before?"

"Uh. Yes," Ray is uncomfortable admitting it. "Not particularly eager to do it again, though."

"You won't have to." Sara appears outside the doors to the cell. "Hi Ray."

"Sara!" Ray is overjoyed to see her...and then immediately guilty. "Uh, sorry about this."

"We'll discuss your bad decisions later," Sara says. Over her shoulder appear Amaya and Henry. 

"We're getting you out, but we need to know: where's the objective?" says Amaya. 

"Let me out and I'll show you," says Wake. Sara and Amaya look her up and down, then Sara nods.

"You got it, lady." 

Amaya touches the necklace around her neck. A roar sounds and a white luminous image of a gorilla rises behind her, superimposed over her smaller figure. She reaches for the bars of the cell and wrenches them straight out of the wall. Ray and the Resistance fighters stare, amazed. Amaya, Sara and Henry rush into the cell. Sara and Henry crouch down beside Nate, who is trying to hang on to consciousness and failing. 

"Dad…?" he mumbles, staring at Henry. Sara and Ray exchange a baffled look. Henry is equally confused. 

"What's wrong with him?" Sara demands. 

"He's a hemophiliac. Internal bleeding--it's not going to stop without clotting factors, we have to get him back to the Waverider right now," Ray explains. 

"Is it safe to move him?" Henry is still very confused, but Nate has latched on to his hand and he is allowing it. 

"It's a lot more dangerous not to!" Ray says. Henry nods, and with a grunt of effort, hefts Nate into his arms. 

"Ray, you and Amaya follow this woman and get the objective," Sara commands. "Steel, get outside, meet up with Firestorm. They can get you to the Waverider the fastest." Henry nods, accepting her orders without question. 

"Follow him out, go to ground, rendezvous pattern  _ Gavotte _ ," Wake orders her own men. They obey. As they go past, she grabs one man's arm. "Get word to your handlers, then await further instructions." He nods and follows the rest. Wake grins. "He's our pet Russian spy. Best way to get information to and from the Russian front, he is," she explains to Sara's inquiring look. 

"Smart," Sara agrees. "Okay, Steel: the JSA and Rory are occupying the police troops. Your way out should be clear." 

 

**SCENE: Woods outside the Gestapo HQ.**

The scene opens to a pitched battle already underway. Camera focuses on Stargirl, high in the sky and surveying the battlefield. As we watch, she hefts the staff in her hand and releases a blast of bright energy towards the ground, scattering a contingent of German police forces.

Camera zooms down into the field itself. Mick roars as he lights up a huge swathe around him with his gun. The JSA is giving him a wide berth, allowing him to control part of the field and sow destruction as he likes. Fleeing from the fire, German forces run right into Rex, Obsidian, and Dr. Mid-Nite, who fight as a coordinated team, hand-to hand. 

“Down!” Rex snaps, and they all three drop to the ground in unison, as a volley of gunfire goes off over their heads. A moment later a blast from Stargirl dispatches the shooters. 

Sara appears, and holds out a hand to Rex, helping him back to his feet. 

“Prisoners are being escorted to safety, Vixen and Commander Steel are securing the objective,” she tells him. A German officer charges at her from behind; she spins, roundhouse kicks him in the face, and turns back to Rex, casually, as he falls. “All good here?”

“Your man is impossible to control,” Rex snaps. Camera pans over to Mick, who is bellowing “Fry, you Nazi bastards!!” delightedly as he continues to set everything near him on fire. 

“...effective, though,” Rex admits. 

“Aw, flattery will get you everywhere--” Sara starts, then pauses. A streak of lightning has appeared, zig-zagging through the battlefield. She and Rex both stare at it; the flames from Mick stop. 

“...the hell is the Flash doing here?” he asks, perplexed. 

“I don’t think that’s the Flash,” Sara says, slowly. The streak of light turns and starts coming towards them. Sara takes out her batons, stance ready and wary. Mick appears beside her, gun raised and expression grim. One her other side, Rex also takes a fighting stance. Beside him the rest of the JSA forms up, until both teams are in a line. The camera pans along it in slow-motion, lingering on each superhero: Stargirl, hovering about a foot off the ground; Obsidian, a ball of darkness gathering in his hand; Dr. Mid-Nite, goggles on and face impassive; Rex, spine straight and ready to lead; and Sara and Mick, wary but prepared.

“Know who we could really use against a speedster...” Sara mutters.

“Shut up Lance, I’m trying to concentrate,” Mick snaps, not wanting to be reminded right now. 

The lightning zig-zags closer and closer. The camera zooms in and we can make out the blurry figure of a man within it, just barely visible as a shaking outline...and then another blur of motion impacts him from the side, and he goes flying. 

The second blur resolves into Amaya, crouched down, with the silhouette of a cheetah rising behind her. Nancy Wake dashes across the battlefield behind her, firing at the remaining German forces with a stolen pistol, and Ray flies after, having recovered his suit. 

“What was that?” Amaya asks. There is no sign of the man in the lightning any more. 

“The objective! Do you have it?” Rex demands instead of answering. 

“Yes, it’s secure!” A wave of relief crosses Rex’s face. 

“Well done. JSA, retreat!” he commands. Stargirl, Ray and Wake begin firing to cover their exit. As they leave, there’s a sudden concussive rush of air and the Gestapo outpost goes up in flames. 

“Rory!” Sara snaps, admonishing. Mick shrugs as he jogs away from the fire, unrepentant.

“Nazis, Lance. Nazis.” 

 

**SCENE: Waverider bridge, midday**

Sara, Amaya, Rex, Stargirl, Mick, Stein, Jax, and Nancy Wake are gathered in the bridge. In the middle of the table is the shard. It no longer glows, and looks like just a small piece of wood. 

"So you're telling me that because the Germans no longer have  _ this _ ," Wake gestures towards the shard, "we're going to win the war?"

"It's more like...when they had this, you couldn't win. Now you can," Jax explains. She eyes the shard, definitely not completely buying it. 

"I think I'll keep relying on training, tactics, and coordinated intelligence, thanks all the same," she says at last. 

"Yeah that's probably a good idea." Sara holds out a hand to shake. "It's been an honor, Agent Wake."

Wake shakes her hand, then Rex's when he offers it as well. She looks around the bridge one more time. "You have a strange operation here, but I can't deny that it works," she says. "Thanks for your help." She exits. 

"It  _ did  _ work," Sara reminds Rex, gesturing at the shard on the table. 

"...it did," he admits. 

**CUT TO: Waverider medical bay, midday**

Nate is on the medical bed, hooked up to a blood transfusion machine, eyes closed. His arm around the needle is bruising dark purple, and he does not look well. Beside him are Ray and Henry. 

"Gideon, how's it going?" Ray asks. 

"Damage to the kidney is being repaired. Provided Mr. Heywood does not have an adverse reaction to the transfusion, he is no longer in danger of organ failure," says Gideon. Henry jerks up in surprise when she says 'Heywood'. 

"Who are you people?" he asks, sounding almost angry. 

"It's a long story," Ray begins. Henry cuts him off. 

"Then you can start talking. Who is this kid and why does he have my last name?"

Ray pauses, surprised. Nate's eyes flicker open, slowly, and he takes in the med bay and the people around him. His eyes focus on Henry. 

"...hi, Grandpa," he mumbles, rueful. 

**CUT TO: Waverider bridge**

"This artifact is causing aberrations in time. The Legends fix aberrations. We can keep this safe; we have technology you don't, with us it can't cause any more damage," Sara says. 

"I can't hand this over to you. It's the property of the President of the United States," Rex says.   


"Really? The President, personally?" Sara groans. "Rex, come on, you lost it once--"

"And I don't intend to again, agreed," Rex says. "Where's Henry?"

**CUT TO: Waverider medical bay**

"He's your grandfather?" Ray yelps. Henry shakes his head. 

"That's not possible."

"I never met you, but my dad--your son--he told me stories about you. Tells me, in the future I mean. Time travel. Sorry. I was going to tell you, but...you were kinda busy," Nate says. Henry does not know what to do with this information. He stares at Nate. Nate looks back at him, silent and more and more crestfallen the longer the silence goes on. 

"Mr. Heywood, Captain Lance is requesting your presence on the bridge," Gideon announces into the silence. Nate and Henry both look up. 

“Uh, which Heywood?” Ray asks. 

“Commander Steel,” says Gideon.

"Ah, of course." Henry gets to his feet hurriedly, not looking at Nate, and leaves. 

**CUT TO: Waverider bridge**

Henry enters, looking shaken. The JSA and the Legends are still arguing. 

"Look, we are not leaving this time without that artifact," says Sara.

"Fine by me, I'm game to stay and roast more Nazis," Mick comments. 

"This isn't a  _ game _ !" Amaya snaps. "This is serious! The act of taking lives isn't something to speak about so lightly!"

"How 'bout this, I'll say a little prayer for them as they fry," Mick scoffs. 

"Rory, quit it," Sara orders. He subsides. "Rex, no offense, but I'm  _ not  _ going to trust you with the artifact."

"I won't be keeping it." Rex picks up the shard, carefully, and then turns to Henry. "Heywood. I'm signing over the objective into your custody, effective immediately. I will be recommending to the President that you safeguard it until such time as it can be safely operationalized, if ever."

Henry accepts the shard, eyeing it dubiously. "Are you sure?"

"You're the most dedicated member the JSA has. I know you'll guard it with your life," Rex says. Henry nods, but he looks like he's not fully sure if that's a good thing or not. 

"Thank you for your trust in me," he says. "...if you'll excuse me, I need to. Talk to someone." He exits. 

**CUT TO: Waverider medbay**

Nate is alone, looking up at the ceiling while the machines around him beep gently. He looks better than before. Henry enters; Nate struggles into a sitting position, surprised. 

"You're back."

"Yeah." Henry sits down on the stool by the bed. "Sorry about before. Leaving like that."

"I get it." Nate smiles, rueful. "I wouldn't want to claim me as a descendant either. I wanted to be like you, be a hero, and all I did was screw it up."

"That's…" Henry is uncomfortable. He is having Feelings and was not trained for this. "I'm not disappointed in you, kid. It's just...it's hard to hear that I have a grandson but never get to meet him. That I'm not there for my kid when he gets married, has his own kids. Always knew I wasn't gonna make it out of this war, but it isn't easy to have it confirmed."

"You do make it--!" Nate cuts himself off before he can continue. "You...yeah. I mean. Dad didn't talk about it much, but losing you was. Hard on him."

"Hard on you, too," Henry guesses. 

"...yeah."

"Sometimes I think the most 'heroic' thing I could do is go home, and be with my family," Henry says, abruptly. Nate looks up at him, surprised. 

"But you make such a difference with the JSA!"

"And I'm proud of that, don't get me wrong. But where would I be without my family? Where would the JSA, hell, the whole Allied forces, be without the codebreakers, radio operators, the medics? I'm just saying...there's more ways to be a hero than fighting and killing." Henry takes the shard from his pocket and looks at it thoughtfully. "More ways to be a hero than dying in the line of duty, too, come to that."

"I'm a historian," Nate admits, in a rush. "That's what I was, before I joined this team. I'm writing my thesis on you."

"Damn, my grandkid, a college boy!" Henry smiles, for the first time in this conversation. "You couldn't make me prouder, kid, that's the honest truth. Getting an education, making something of yourself...that's all I want." Nate is overwhelmed, on the verge of tears to hear that. 

"Really? Dad always said that you'd want me to do well in school, but I didn't know how much was...you know, just him saying that. He gave me your lucky pencil--" He digs it out of his pocket. Immediately, both it and the shard in Henry's hand begin to glow, violently. 

Nate yelps. Henry leaps to his feet and backs away. The farther the two shards get from each other, the less they glow. 

"That...is not a pencil," Henry says, from the other side of the room. 

"...yeah, I'm thinking not," Nate agrees, faintly. "Gideon? Can you call the Legends down here please?"

 

**SCENE: Waverider medbay**

The Legends, plus Henry, are all gathered around Nate's bed. The two shard pieces, next to each other, are glowing brightly. 

"Fascinating. A stable time loop," Stein says. 

"Wait, so these are the same artifact?" Jax asks. 

"Yes! Commander Heywood clearly retains custody of the artifact, passes it down to his descendants, and it eventually comes to the younger Mr. Heywood here. Where it then enables Mr. Heywood to ensure the Commander’s possession of it in the first place," Stein explains, excitedly. 

"I don't get it," Mick says. Stein opens his mouth to explain; Mick holds up a hand. "And I don't care." He wanders out of the medbay. "Gideon, beer." "Of course Mr. Rory. Ready in the kitchen," we hear faintly as he exits. 

"Well, I guess that this confirms that the artifact is safe with the JSA," Sara admits. She holds out a hand; Henry shakes it. "I'm glad you're taking care of it."

"I'm glad to know that you'll take care of it after I'm gone," he returns. "Or, that my grandson will."

"Actually...Sara, I think you should have it." Nate picks up the pencil version of the shard and hands it to Sara. She looks surprised. 

"Are you sure, Nate? You could hold onto it," Sara says. Nate shakes his head, looking thoughtful. 

"No, I think it belongs with the Legends. And...I'm not sure I do."

"What? Come on, we can find a way to deal with the hemophilia--Gideon can help!" Ray protests. Nate smiles, shaking his head. 

"It's not about that. I think...I think I want to go home, and be my own kind of hero." He smiles at Henry. Henry smiles back, and nods. 

“I’m glad I got to meet you, Nate,” he says. “I’m sorry if I didn’t live up to your dad’s stories.”

“The real you is even better than the stories,” Nate assures him. Henry rests a hand on his shoulder, because he’s a Man and Does Not Hug.

 

**SCENE: JSA HQ, a storage room**

Rex is alone in the room, looking through some files. The camera rests on him for a moment as he flips through a folder. Suddenly, there is a rustle of air behind him. He turns, but there is no one there. After a moment of silence, he turns back to the folder...and is suddenly slammed into a wall in a crackle of lightning. In front of him is EOBARD THAWNE, THE REVERSE FLASH, in costume and vibrating his face. 

"You!" Rex gasps. “You’re the one who stole the objective in Scotland!”

"Me," Thawne agrees. "Where is it, Hourman."

"You're too late." Rex bares his teeth, triumphant. "I don't have it." 

"Then who does?" Thawne demands. When Rex doesn't answer, he slams him against the wall again, a hand around his throat. 

Rex laughs, shortly, through his restricted breathing. "Nothing you can do to me would make me tell you."

"That's what you think. Anyone you love, I can get to, and I will hurt them until you tell me," says Thawne.

"There's no one," Rex says. It is a lie, but a good one; Thawne buys it.

"I can travel in time. Let's see if you're more cooperative when I kill your mother in front of your eyes," he threatens. Rex's eyes widen; then he laughs again. 

"Dad was an addict. Mom split when I was two. No siblings. No lovers. No children. What exactly can you do to me?" Thawne appears stymied. Rex grins at him, defiant. "It's gone and you'll never find it. Too late, time traveller."

"Well in that case…" Thawne draws back a hand, vibrating and pointed like a blade. "You're no longer useful to me." He plunges the hand into Rex's chest. 

"Rex!" The scream comes from Amaya, in the door. She presses a hand to her amulet; a tiger rears behind her, roaring, and she lunges for Thawne. He disappears in a flash of lightning; she catches Rex as he falls. He coughs; blood spills over his lips. 

"Wanted the objective," Rex gasps. "Didn't give it to him."

"Who was he?" Amaya presses a hand to Rex's chest, but all the damage is internal; there is nothing she can do.

"Time traveler. Be careful." Rex coughs again. More blood spills. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" Amaya asks. She is not crying, she is focused. She tries to lift Rex; he gasps in pain and shakes his head. She lets him lie still. 

"Told him there was no one I cared about. After I talked a big game about kissing you, too...I would've, Amaya. I promise, I would have."

Amaya struggles to find something to say. She has stopped trying to lift Rex or stop the bleeding: now she is just holding him. 

"He'll pay for this. I'll find him. I swear it," she whispers at last. 

Rex's eyes close. He is gone. 

 

**SCENE: Waverider kitchen**

Mick is hunting through the drawers and counters of the kitchen. 

"Gideon, where are all the knives?" he complains. A moment later, he is yanked backwards. A knife is held to his throat. "...oh, look, there's one," he says. He is surprised, but more intrigued than worried.

"You." Amaya is still not crying. She is focused; she is angry; she has an objective. "You're going to help me find a time traveler."

**END CREDITS**


	2. Chapter 2

[see on tumblr here](http://kickingshoes.tumblr.com/post/165055051737/art-for-the-third-lotrewrite-written-by)

Kickingshoes' tarot card for Episode 3 - they've created a full set of Major Arcana based on the episodes! See more of their art [here](http://kickingshoes.tumblr.com/tagged/our-art)!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Nancy Wake was an awesome real person check out her incredible biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Wake.


End file.
